Patent GB-1356981-A (GB)
Title: Loading and closing containers
IPC: B43M5/04
Filed: 1971-06-02
Abstract: 1356981 Packing in envelopes/conveyers AUTOMATED PACKAGING SYSTEMS Inc 2 June 1971 [5 June 1970] 18663/71 Headings B8C and B8A In an apparatus for inserting material into spaced apart pockets B in a web indexed under tension through a loading station 30, the web is indexed by a finger 53 which engages in a pocket B and advances it to a position such that, with the web under tension, another pocket is correctly positioned at the loading station 31. Pocket-formation.-The pockets B are to be closed and severed from the web to form filled postal envelopes and for this purpose a transparent plastics web is passed under a printing roller (11, Fig. 1) which prints areas (15a-15c) and leaves a transparent window (16) on the web. The web is then longitudinally folded by a plough (12) and transversely sealed by a rotary heat sealer (22) to form seals 23 extending partially across the folded web. Web-feeding.-The pocketed web is carried by a spool 43 and is trained around tensioning rollers 45, 46 and a dancer roller 47 carried by a pivotal arm 48 having a curved portion 48c adapted to brake the spool 43. The web advancing finger 53 is pivoted to a support 54 and is biased by a spring 61 to a position for engaging a transverse seal 23. The support 54 is connected to a carrier 80 attached to an endless chain 74 trained around a drive sprocket 75 attached to a gear 71 which engages a ratchet 70 reciprocated by a motor M via a gear-box 64 and a link 65. Thus, the finger is advanced to a position X to position a pocket at the loading station, and is pivoted out of the seal-engaging position during retraction. Web tensioning.-The web is tensioned by being pressed by rollers 96, 97 against an intermittently driven belt 86 trained around three pulleys 90-92. The belt drive pulley 90 is connected to a gear 168 driven, via an idler 167, by a gear 166 mounted on a drive shaft 165. A radial stop 176 is carried by the drive shaft and is cyclically engaged by a brake assembly 178 carried by a shaft 185 rotated by a cam 190 driven by the gear-box 64. The pulley 91 has a shaft 91a carried in slots 103 formed in slide members 101, 102 between which a bar 110 extends. The bar is fixed to a vertical shaft 120 rotatably sup. ported in a member 121 biased by springs 130, 131 to tension the belt 82. A draw bar 133, connected to the member 121, can be moved by a lever 137 to release the belt 82 for removal. The pulley 91 may be skewed by rotating a shaft 150 having a worm. 147 engaging a gear 146 on the shaft 120. Loading station.-At the loading station, which is of known construction, the mouth of the pocket B is distended by guide plates (155, 156, Fig. 9), the web being twisted through 90 degrees for loading. Pocket closure.-A closing station 31 comprises a heat sealing element 222 having a transverse leg 225 and a longitudinal leg 226 both provided with a knife edge 227. The element 222 is supported on an elevator 240 slidably mounted on guide rods 236 and connected by a linkage 283 to a support bar 282 connected by levers 277, 281 to a cam follower 276 engaging a rotary cam 266 for raising and lowering the sealing element 222. The element 222 is also connected to a support plate 242 which is adjustable transversely and longitudinally of the belt 86.